BOTTOM
LINE:
An effective thriller
that keeps you guessing until the end, but let down by some over-the-top
technical gimmicks and an overbearing musical score.
THE
GOOD: "The
Good German" comes as a refreshing change of pace; it's filmed
like an old-style 40's classic, full frame and in black and white.
The first minutes of this film are pieced-together newsreel footage
which smartly segues in to a gripping thriller about an American
Military Journalist Jake Geismer (an excellent George Clooney) is
pulled in to a mystery surrounding an ex-Nazi who is being pursued
by both the Americans and the Russians in post-war 1940's Berlin.
The film is very much like an onion with each minute passing by
revealing a new layer of intrigue. Cate Blanchett is excellent as
the wife of the ex-Nazi, Lena Brandt, who also had an affair with
Jake. Together they are drawn in to a bigger plot when Brandt's
current lover, Patrick Tully (Tobey Maguire) tries to sell Brandt
to the Russians for a large sum but ends up shot and washed up on
a riverbank in Potsdam. What seems like a simple murder mystery
turns out to be the first step in finding out a bigger mystery surrounding
American and Russian interests in carving up the spoils, both land
and people, of post-war Germany. There is a very strong film-noir
taste to this film, helped heavily by being filmed in black and
white. There has been a lot of attention to detail, with the post-war
period of the piece recreated meticulously by the production. It
feels like they really shot it at the end of World War II in Berlin.
Movies aren't made like this any more. The cast across the board
is excellent. Tobey Maguire is also surprisingly strong as the ambitious
but foolish Tully, trying to make a fortune out of the war. All
in all, despite a weak introductory first 10 minutes, the mystery
at the heart of this film will pull you in and won't let you go
until it's revealed, right in the final moments.
